It was accordingly so ordained by the emperor; and to this day there is to be seen a chapel in Brussels adorned round with a boot and imperial crown, and in all processions the company of cobblers take precedence of the company of shoemakers.

G.K.

* * * * *

SINGULAR TENURE.

King John gave several lands, at Kepperton and Atterton, in Kent, to Solomon Attefeld, to be held by this singular service—­that as often as the king should be pleased to cross the sea, the said Solomon, or his heirs, should be obliged to go with him, to hold his majesty’s head, if there should be occasion for it, “that is, if he should be sea-sick;” and it appears, by the record in the Tower, that this same office of head-holding was actually performed in the reign of Edward the First.

J.R.S.

* * * * *

“AS BAD AS PLOUGHING WITH DOGS.”

(To the Editor.)

Famed as your miscellany is for local and provincial terms, customs, and proverbs, I have often wondered never to have met with therein this old comparative north country proverb—­“As bad as ploughing with dogs;” which evidently originated from the Farm-house; for when ploughmen (through necessity) have a new or awkward horse taken into their team, by which they are hindered and hampered, they frequently observe, “This is as bad as ploughing with dogs.”  This proverb is in the country so common, that it is applied to anything difficult or abstruse:  even at a rubber at whist, I have heard the minor party execrate the business in these words, “It is as bad as ploughing with dogs,” give it up for lost, change chairs, cut for partners, and begin a new game.

H.B.A.

* * * * *

CROESUS.—­A DRAMATIC SKETCH.

(For the Mirror.)

Cyrus, Courtiers, and Officers of State.  Croesus bound upon the funeral pile which is guarded by Persian soldiers, several of them bearing lighted torches, which they are about to apply to the pile.

  Croesus.—­O, Solon, Solon, Solon.

  Cyrus.—­Whom calls he on?

  Attendant.—­Solon, the sage.

  Croesus.—­How true thy words
  No man is happy till he knows his end.

  Cyrus.—­Can Solon help thee?

  Croesus.—­He hath taught me that
  Which it were well for kings to know.

  Cyrus.—­Unbind him—­we would hear it.